Research Question 2: Neighbourhood policing awareness

Our research question for this section is: What factors influence awareness of neighbourhood policing?

In this section, let’s suppose we are researching what impacts awareness of neighbourhood policing programs. We are conducting this research because we are interested in improving the public’s awareness of neighbourhood policing in their areas. We may also want to know if residents who are aware of neighbourhood policing programs feel safer in their homes or walking around their neighbourhoods at night. If we find that awareness of neighbourhood policing is related to increased feelings of public safety, it might help inform policies aimed at promoting and addressing new neighbourhood policing programs. In order to do this research, we can use quantitative methods to analyse survey data from a publicly available dataset.

The dataset we’ll be using is the csew_apr11mar12_nvf.sav file from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) in 2011-2012. You can find out how to locate, download, and access the CSEW from the UK Data Service website here. Before we can begin using this dataset to investigate the possible answers to the research question above, we need to identify our independent and dependent variables.

Choosing a dependent variable is an easy place to start in determining variables, as generally, once you have formulated a research question, you are aware of what you want your dependent variable to be. For instance, perhaps you are interested in studying what influences the number of ice cream cones sold at the beach. In this example, the number of ice cream cones would be your dependent variable. Your independent variables could be things like daily temperature, location on the beach, and time of year.

In our case, because we are interested in determining what factors might impact neighbourhood policing awareness, our dependent variable throughout this section will be neighpol1, respondent awareness of neighbourhood policing. Depending on the type of statistical analysis we run, we’ll be using different independent variables to illuminate various relationships. Some of these independent variables include respondent education level, age, religious affiliation, health, and employment status.

As you move through the pages in this section, you’ll learn how to perform various statistical analyses on the data in the CSEW dataset. First, you’ll use univariate analysis to get some descriptive information about our dependent variable. Then, you can run bivariate analysis, introducing an independent variable into statistical tests to define its relationship with awareness of neighbourhood policing. Finally, you will practice multivariate analysis, which allows you to look at the influence of multiple independent variables on a dependent variable.